Burning Bridges
by Matt Guthrie
Summary: Ginny is killed during the HBP skirmish on Hogwarts, and Ron blames Harry. Both fall into deep depressions as their friendship deteriorates, leaving Hermione on the outside, trying to help them forgive each other. Threeshot. Slight Ron bashing. No romance involved. T for weighty subject matter and suicide references.
1. Blame

Chapter 1

Random shouts of random Latin words and phrases drenched the air around Hogwarts. Spells flew everywhere, some hitting people, and others harmlessly crashing into the walls. A few severely injured or dead people lay on the ground. Hogwarts had turned into a small battle zone with the invasion of a group of Death Eaters.

But none of that mattered to Harry Potter. All the Chosen One cared about was finding the traitor, Severus Snape. The man who had killed his mentor moments earlier.

He shoved a skinny death eater out of his way and darted outside. Snape was almost past the boundaries of Hogwarts, and Harry still hadn't caught up to him. Harry wasn't close enough to use the Cruciatus curse he wanted to use.

The fact that Curciatus was one of the three unforgivable curses did not matter to Harry. It was slower, less efficient, and far more painful than the killing curse. And he thought Snape deserved to die the slow, painful death of a traitor.

"He trusted you!" Harry bellowed after Snape. It was unclear if he had heard him, for there was no response. Snape simply turned to a black – haired woman and gave her an order inaudible to Harry.

Bellatrix Lestrange disapparated to an unknown destination. Harry turned around, but for a while, saw nobody. He turned back around and saw that Snape had escaped, much to Harry's dismay. _If we ever cross paths again, I'll make him suffer._ He vowed just before he heard someone apparating.

He turned around and saw that Bellatrix had reappeared a few meters away. She was holding her wand to Ginny Weasley's throat. And she looked like she really wanted to use that wand.

"Give me your wand." Bellatrix ordered Harry. "Or the girl dies!" She cackled as Harry recoiled in dread.

"Don't do it, Harry!" Ginny said, pleading for Harry to not make any rash decisions.

Harry saw that he had to make a dreadful choice. Either he handed over his wand and surrendered himself to the Death Eaters, or he could keep his wand and let Ginny die. _But she'll probably just kill Ginny either way._ Harry thought. He realized that there was only one thing he could do – Fight.

He raised his wand and prepared to use the expelliarmus charm. With it, he could knock the wand out of Bellatrix's hand, effectively disarming her. Unless she also had a knife or some other muggle weapon, which was very unlikely, Bellatrix would not be able to kill Ginny. Unfortunately, she was faster than Harry.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix shouted the curse, and her wand channeled the curse and hit Ginny, killing her instantly.

"NO!" Harry shouted, but it was too late. Ginny's lifeless body hit the ground. Bellatrix cackled again, clearly enjoying the thrill of killing.

"Crucio!" Harry roared, pointing his wand at Bellatrix. The curse was blocked harmlessly.

"You don't mean it!" Bellatrix laughed. "You only think you want me to suffer. But you still can't use an unforgivable curse. Not even after I killed the girl!" With a last maniacal cackle, she disapparated, leaving Harry all alone.

Harry stood there in a state of shock for a moment. Then he saw Ginny lying on the ground, dead but with eyes wide open. Harry scrambled over to her and propped her head up with his hand. He closed her eyes and felt tears well up in his.

"I'm sorry, Ginny…" His voice was barely anything more than a whisper.

Harry heard footsteps approaching. He looked up and saw his friend, Ron Weasley, approaching. Ron crouched down when he arrived at the scene and saw that his sister was dead.

"No…This…This isn't happening." He said in a despaired voice. He breathed heavily and gave Harry a hateful stare. "You couldn't save her."

"Ron, I'm sorry! I tried to save her, but…"

"You saved her from You – Know – Who years ago, but couldn't save her from that mental woman!" Harry began to reply, when Ron continued with his tirade. "How is it that you can save her from You – Know – Who, but can't save her from that mental woman?"

"Ron, I tried…"

"YOU LET HER DIE, DIDN'T YOU?"

"No! I'd never just sit back and let any of your family die! Why do you think I would?"

But Ron had already started making his way back to the castle. Harry was left alone once again. _He's right. _He thought. _It's my fault Ginny's dead. _With those bitter thoughts, he fell to the ground sobbing.

Hermione had observed the exchange from a distance, but saw Ron leave before she could intervene. His head was hung down, and his breathing was heavy. "Ron, what happened?" She asked.

"My sister's dead." He replied in a stone – cold voice. "If you want details, ask him." He pointed in Harry's direction.

"Ron…"

"Just leave me alone!" He shouted. He saw Hermione step back, surprised at the sudden outburst. "Please…Just leave me alone." Ron left, leaving Hermione alone between the scene of the murder and the castle.

People were massed at the entrance, observing the scene from a distance. Nobody would let them leave the building. They knew something terrible had happened. They knew somebody had died, and it wasn't just Dumbledore. Hermione could not help but think that the students at the entrance were the lucky ones. They did not yet know that somebody's sister was dead. They were lucky they had not lost their sister or girlfriend themselves. They were lucky that their metaphorical bridges known as friendships hadn't been burned yet by the tragedy.

**Yeah, this isn't the best writing I've done. But this is just a mini – project that popped into my head last night. Really extra practice for the really dark passages in my other writings. Hope you guys liked it. There should be one or two more chapters later. **


	2. Depression

Depression

Later that night, Harry was lying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling vacantly. He could not sleep, and he did not want to. Ginny's voice still resided inside his head, and if he let himself drift off, it would get even worse.

Dean, Neville, and Seamus all walked into the dormitory solemnly. They ignored Harry, thinking that he would rather be alone. They were right. Harry did not want to speak with anybody. Not after what he had just been through. He just wanted to be alone with his pain.

Ron came in much later. Harry could see that his eyes were very red. Ron did not say a word or even acknowledge the existence of his classmates, with the exception being Harry. He gave him an icy look of blame and left for his four – poster. He was still mad at Harry. He still thought it was his fault Ginny was dead.

Harry pulled the curtains of his four – poster around him, cast every spell he knew that would keep the others from hearing him, and let his tears overcome him.

All classes had been postponed in the wake of the disaster, giving Ron no reason to hurry to get out of bed the next morning. As such, he just remained on his four – poster for most of the morning, lethargic, hardly even blinking. He stared up at the roof, still struggling to take in the fact that his sister was dead. He had to put up with her for sixteen years, and no matter how annoying she could be, Ron always loved her. But now she was dead.

Eventually, late in the morning, he mustered the energy to get out of bed. He quickly got dressed and left the boys' dormitory, but not before giving Harry another icy, blameful look. _He can just stay there sinking his misery for all I care. _He thought crossly. _It doesn't change the fact that it's his fault Ginny's dead. _

When he entered the Gryffindor common room, Ron saw that everyone was there. They were staring at him sympathetically. They knew it was his sister who had been killed in last night's attack.

Ron kept his head down as he made his way through the common room. He was headed for the Great Hall for what could be seen as either a late breakfast or early lunch. He didn't want to stop to talk to anybody. Frankly, he just wanted to get some food and just disappear into the room of requirement to be alone with his grief.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked him about halfway through.

"Who cares?" Ron answered Hermione's question with one of his own. "It's his fault my sister's dead. He can just die himself and join her for all I care."

"Ron…"

"Leave me alone." Ron cut her off stiffly. He turned around to address everyone in the room. "That goes for all of you. Don't waste any words on me. You can't make me feel better about this. You can't understand my grief until you lose a sister of your own. So don't try to pretend that you relate to me. Because you don't." The choked up youngest of the surviving Weasleys turned back around and left the common room without saying another word.

…

Several days later, Hermione was by the lake, trying to read a potions textbook. Classes still hadn't started back up, as a lot of students had already been whisked out of the school, which was rumored to be close to closing for good. But Hermione was still rather stressed out over Ron's lonesome behavior, and she needed something to keep her mind off his and Harry's issues. It was not working.

It occurred to Hermione that she hadn't heard anything of Harry for days. She hadn't seen him, much less spoken to him, since Ginny died. Sure Hogwarts was a big place, but surely she would have seen him at least once since then. It had been about a week.

Discouraged, Hermione closed the textbook and stood up. She needed to find Harry and talk to him. And if she couldn't find him, she'd ignore Ron's plea for her to leave him alone and talk to him about it. Depression was much easier to cope with if one had friends with them, consoling them.

"Have you seen Harry lately?" She asked Dean Thomas, who happened to be the nearest Gryffindor student in her proximity. _He should know. He's one of his roommates! _

"No." Dean admitted simply. "He's nowhere to be found. In case you haven't been paying attention to the rumor mill, a lot of us who are still here think he may have committed suicide."

A mix of fear and surprise flooded through Hermione at that moment. If Harry had taken his own life, that would explain why he hadn't been seen in several days. Unless he was hiding the whole time, but what were the odds of that? Surely, somebody would have found him by now, even if this was Hogwarts, which was never known among students for having a simple layout. Getting desperate, she left Dean where he was and made her way to the Gryffindor common room. Maybe someone else would know for a fact where he was.


End file.
